MANCHESTER United will feel aggrieved to have lost but Sunderland take the narrowest of advantages into the second leg of the Capital One Cup semi final courtesy of Fabio Borini's controversial penalty.

In a dull opening 45 the first chance of the night came via Ryan Giggs' deflected strike which cannoned to safety off the bar for a corner.

United had the ball in the net when Adnan Januzaj's shot from the edge of the area hit Giggs on the backside and landed invitingly for the Belgian.

But as Januzaj smashed the ball into the net the whistle rang out.

The linesman correctly spotting that Giggs was in an offside position when he unwittingly got in the way of the Januzaj's first effort.

Finally, deep into first half stoppage time the game sprang into life.

Seb Larsson's freekick looked to have evaded everyone but Wes Brown got on the end of it, playing the ball back across the box and his old teammate Giggs was only able to bundle the ball over the line into his own net under pressure from Phil Bardsley.

The announcer at the Stadium of Light gave it to Bardsley but replays showed it was Giggs who had the last touch.

Nemanja Vidic got United back in the game early in the second half with a booming header at the far post from a corner.

United players look on after Ryan Giggs' own goal [GETTY]

But Sunderland bounced back.

De Gea was on hand to parry Larsson's powerful effort away after the Swede reacted quickest to a knock-down, but shortly after the Black Cats were awarded a penalty.

Adam Johnson outpaced Tom Cleverley and as the United midfielder made a clumsy attempt to steal the ball away from Johnson the Sunderland man went down and the linesman had no hesitation to give the penalty.

United protested furiously and it did look soft, but the on-loan Liverpool man Borini made no mistake, smashing the ball high into the net to put the hosts in front.

Januzaj slashed a volley wide before chipping Antonio Valencia's cross just over the bar from sixx yards out but it was as close at they came.

United threw the kitchen sink at the hosts but couldn't break through some dogged defending.

Sunderland worked hard and were good value, but with United's recent home form there has to be serious doubt whether the Premier League champions can turn the deficit around.